2008 ARCHIVAL NEWS CONTENT

National building performance program to feature new E-Scale

ORLANDO, Fla. – Feb. 14 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — Martha Rose Construction, Inc., joined today with U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman to announce a new national energy-saving initiative – the U.S. Department of Energy’s Builders Challenge. Martha Rose was at the Builders Challenge kick-off event held at the International Builders Show in Orlando, Florida.

“For Marsha Rose Construction building high-performance homes has been a core business model for the last 4 years,” said Martha Rose. “We welcome this voluntary initiative for builders, and look forward to working with DOE to build consumer awareness of the benefits for buying highly energy efficient homes.”

The EnergySmart Home Scale, or E-Scale, will serve as a tool for marketing energy-efficient homes. Consumer interest has been increasing in the top energy-performing homes, and now there is a tool that clearly allows builders to differentiate their products in the marketplace.

“Martha Rose believes it is possible to build new homes that are more efficient than code by 30 percent or better at little or no net cost,” continued Martha Rose. “Achieving these efficiencies does require sophisticated design and installation techniques that go beyond standard industry practice, but the competitive advantage of these homes with their high quality means faster sales. And, we believe this kind of high-performance building is the right thing for our nation, our natural environment, and our customers.”

The challenge program encourages U.S. home builders to adopt the E-Scale on a voluntary basis, and also to utilize best practices for home design and construction. The initiative seeks to accelerate use of successful whole-house design and construction practices that have been developed and verified through DOE research in its Building America program.

About Martha Rose Construction, Inc. Martha Rose Construction has come to lead the Puget Sound region in Building not-so-big, zero-energy use homes in low-impact developments. “Building high performance homes makes us part of the solution when it comes to our world’s energy challenges. Working with the Building America Team insures that we accomplish this goal with clarity and efficiency.” More information: www.Martharoseconstruction.com.

About the U.S. Department of Energy’s Builders Challenge The U.S. Department of Energy has posed a challenge to the homebuilding industry – to build 220,000 high performance homes by 2012. Homes that qualify for the Builders Challenge must achieve a 70 or better on the EnergySmart Home Scale (E-Scale), meaning that they will use at least 30% less energy than a typical new home built to code. The E-Scale allows homebuyers to understand – at a glance – how the energy performance of a particular home compares with others. Through the Builders Challenge, participating homebuilders will have an easy way to differentiate their best energy-performing homes from other products in the marketplace, and to make the benefits clear to buyers.

Through industry partnerships and existing programs, the Builders Challenge will promote the use of market-tested and cost-effective energy efficiency strategies. The Challenge will support, recognize, and reward builders for achieving higher levels of energy efficiency. DOE’s goal is that, by 2030, new home buyers will have the option to buy a cost-effective Net-Zero Energy Home (NZEH) anywhere in the United States. Learn more at: www.buildingamerica.gov/challenge.

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